tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Med Virol
. 2023 Jan 31.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.28539. Online ahead of print.
Emerging Omicron subvariants evade neutralizing immunity elicited by vaccine or BA.1/BA.2 infection
Zehui Chen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jiaming Li[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jing Zheng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yifei Jin[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Yidun Zhang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Fei Tang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jingjing Li[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hongliang Cheng[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lina Jiang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Huixin Wen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Chao Hong[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiaohong Zeng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shijie Huang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Bing Lu[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Li Li[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zhongyi Wang[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
The newly emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron BA.2.75 and BA.2.76 subvariants contained 35 and 29 additional mutations in its spike (S) protein compared to the reference SARS-CoV-2 genome, respectively. Here, we measured the evasion degree of the BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.75, and BA.2.76 subvariants from neutralizing immunity in people previously infected with the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2, determined the effect of vaccination on immune evasion, and compared the titers of neutralizing antibodies in serums between acute infection and convalescence. Results showed that the neutralization effect of serums from patients with different vaccination statuses and BA.1/BA.2 breakthrough infection decreased with the Omicron evolution from BA.1 to BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.75, and BA.2.76. This study also indicated that the existing vaccines could no longer provide effective protection, especially for the emerging BA.2.75 and BA.2.76 subvariants. Therefore, vaccines against emerging epidemic strains should be designed specifically. In the future, we can not only focus on the current strains, but also predict and design new vaccines against potential mutant strains. At the same time, we can combine the virus strains' infection characteristics to develop protective measures for virus colonization areas, such as nasal protection spray. Besides, further studies on the Y248N mutation of BA.2.76 subvariant were also necessary to explore its contribution to the enhanced immune evasion ability. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Omicron subvariants; human infection; neutralizing immunity evasion.
. 2023 Jan 31.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.28539. Online ahead of print.
Emerging Omicron subvariants evade neutralizing immunity elicited by vaccine or BA.1/BA.2 infection
Zehui Chen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jiaming Li[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jing Zheng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yifei Jin[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Yidun Zhang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Fei Tang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jingjing Li[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hongliang Cheng[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lina Jiang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Huixin Wen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Chao Hong[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiaohong Zeng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shijie Huang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Bing Lu[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Li Li[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zhongyi Wang[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 36719034
- DOI: 10.1002/jmv.28539
Abstract
The newly emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron BA.2.75 and BA.2.76 subvariants contained 35 and 29 additional mutations in its spike (S) protein compared to the reference SARS-CoV-2 genome, respectively. Here, we measured the evasion degree of the BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.75, and BA.2.76 subvariants from neutralizing immunity in people previously infected with the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2, determined the effect of vaccination on immune evasion, and compared the titers of neutralizing antibodies in serums between acute infection and convalescence. Results showed that the neutralization effect of serums from patients with different vaccination statuses and BA.1/BA.2 breakthrough infection decreased with the Omicron evolution from BA.1 to BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.75, and BA.2.76. This study also indicated that the existing vaccines could no longer provide effective protection, especially for the emerging BA.2.75 and BA.2.76 subvariants. Therefore, vaccines against emerging epidemic strains should be designed specifically. In the future, we can not only focus on the current strains, but also predict and design new vaccines against potential mutant strains. At the same time, we can combine the virus strains' infection characteristics to develop protective measures for virus colonization areas, such as nasal protection spray. Besides, further studies on the Y248N mutation of BA.2.76 subvariant were also necessary to explore its contribution to the enhanced immune evasion ability. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Omicron subvariants; human infection; neutralizing immunity evasion.